Japan’s Defence Minister apologised yesterday after sparking outrage with remarks implying that the atomic bombs dropped by the US on his country were an inevitable way to end the Second World War.

Fumio Kyuma said in a speech at the weekend: “I understand that the bombings brought the war to its end. I think it was something that couldn’t be helped.”

He apologised during a news conference in Nagasaki, which was devastated by a US atomic bomb and which he represents in parliament.

“I am very sorry that my remarks gave an impression that atomic bomb victims were made light of,” he said.

Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister, chided Mr Kyuma for his remarks but indicated that he had no plans to sack him, despite calls for his dismissal.

The ruling and opposition parties had denounced his remarks, which came as Japan prepares for key upper house elections on July 29, with Mr Abe seeking to turn around plummeting public support. They said that such remarks in Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack, went against the grain of the people.

Mr Kyuma had noted that some historians said that the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing about 210,000 people, had been unnecessary to make Japan surrender. But the US must have thought the atomic bombs “could prompt Japan’s surrender, thus preventing the Soviet Union from declaring war against Japan”.

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